It’s said that Britain and America are divided by a common language, a thought that can be extended into the product philosophy dividing Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and OnePlus 9 Pro 5G. Here are the two biggest Android phones of the year sharing a few things in the wardrobe but each has taken a separate path. Instead of a this-versus-that review, which we will in the coming days, the focus is on the new launch, the much-awaited phone from OnePlus.
Five-six years ago, it was easy to recommend any OnePlus phone because of its reasonable pricing as well as for the specs it packed in. The Pro model of OnePlus is no longer inexpensive, which says a lot about the brand… that it has created a niche for itself in the premium category to fight with Samsung and Apple; that it feels its loyal customers have evolved; that the road ahead looks promising.
At the same time, a few pointers to remember. This year, the focus of OnePlus is two-pronged — camera and battery, with the former awaiting an overhaul for a couple of years now while the latter involves improving upon what the company already does well. Second, a collaboration is at play — between the seven-year-old OnePlus and 180-year-old camera company Hasselblad. Collaboration is fine but what we looked at over the last one week is whether it translates into something amazing, something that lives up to all the pre-launch promo campaigns.
All companies know that obsessing about customers usually ends up defeating competition while being obsessed with competition ends up hurting the company. With that thought in mind, let’s dive in.
The best OnePlus camera ever
Camera is the single most important aspect of the Pro model. There is also the OnePlus 9, which is currently under review and we will talk about the differences in future articles. To compare the new phone, we placed it next to two other devices — Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and the iPhone 12 Pro. At the same time, we also threw in the Pixel 4a, which is not exactly competition but there are many things that any Pixel phone gets right about photographs.
The colours on the wall and the boat look natural in this early morning scene at Calcutta’s Bagbazar ghat. The Telegraph
Snaps taken on a Pixel come across as contrast-y while iPhone offers a good deal of crispness and the new Samsung phone turns up the vibrancy when required. By simply looking at images from the three phones, one may recognise the devices.
OnePlus has brought in Hasselblad for a period of three years to start with and it’s not just about slapping on a brand name on the back of a phone, something that some smartphone makers have done in the past. If photographs on OnePlus 8 Pro scored seven out of 10, the score has been dialed up to 9 out of 10, which is a big step. OnePlus photos finally have a particular feel to it — just the right amount of contrast combined with good colour reproduction. Plus, the focus is easy to manipulate when deciding what to keep in the frame and what gets blurred.
The collaboration for the time being revolves around colour science, and the results show that. But there is room for nitpicking. To see Hasselblad at its best, one has to switch to the pro mode in the camera department. Yes, there is a lot of the Hasselblad stamp in the usual shots but to get a feel of natural colour reproduction at its best, you need to make some tweaks in the pro mode settings. Once inside pro mode, the interface is quite easy, allowing you to see each adjustment you are making against what it was. Also present is focus peaking, which draws lines around what’s in focus. Having said that, how often do we go into pro mode? The phone camera, especially the one from Apple, has mainly killed the point-and-shoot segment of the camera industry.
With the OnePlus 9 Pro 5G, distortion around the edges of pictures when using the ultra-wide camera is the lowest on any smartphone. The Telegraph
Next, the 50MP ultra-wide mode. OnePlus promised that the distortion around the edges seen on most pictures taken on phones will be reduced to one per cent. Yes, it has reduced a great deal, which is a big achievement and I expect a lot of other brands to do the same in the coming months. The telephoto lens is fine with 3.3X optical zoom but if you do move into digital zoom at 30X, it will be one of those hazy-crazy moments. There is a monochrome helper but I wonder how different it is from using a B&W filter on a photo.
Another quibble. Moving from the main camera into ultra-wide, there is some colour shift and personally, I feel that the ultra-wide at times oversharpens images a tad too much. Moving to night shots, I really appreciate how pictures are brightened up; there’s enough sharpness in the night snaps.
Where OnePlus stumbles slightly is in the video mode. It’s pretty good but for the pricing, I expect more. Yes, you can shoot 8K@30fps, 4K@120fps, super slow-mo 1080p@240fps. But the resulting videos are not very different from what other phones deliver. Perhaps it has to do with Hasselblad, which is a legendary name in still photography but is not known for video camera chops. Let’s remember, it’s a long-term collab, so I am sure there will be improvements in the coming days.
Overall, it’s the best OnePlus camera we have ever seen. If the work with the Swedish company stays on track, I expect big leaps.
Game-changing charging technology
Wireless charging needed a big push, which has come from OnePlus. The company has not only retained a charging brick in the box, it’s a massive 65W one, which can fuel up in 30 minutes. What’s more interesting is the wireless charging pad that needs to be bought separately. The dual-cell battery design helps. Basically, it means, there are two cells that charge simultaneously. The wireless pad has two coils to charge each cell separately at 25W each or combined at 50W. In other words, using the pad, zero to 100 per cent can be attained in 45 minutes, which is less than the charging time on most wired options in the market.
The pro mode in the camera department has enough features to play around with to capture the correct colour scheme. The Telegraph
If you ask me about battery life, it’s okay. We have to remember that this is a flagship-grade phone, so one would like to have all the bells and whistles working all the time. I kept the screen refresh rate at 120Hz (but the phone can make it move from 1Hz to 120Hz, depending on the application being used) while brightness was on the higher side. I am sure the Snapdragon 888 chip running the show can pretty much handle all games, but I restricted to streaming, a good deal of browsing, a whole lot of Office 365 and GPS navigation, which drains out battery. I easily got five and a half hours of screen time, which is what one gets out of most flagship phones.
Should you buy it?
Looking at the back of the phone, there are some similarities in the camera design department with that on Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. A great display and molded aluminum rails make this is a smart-looking device.
In case you are thinking of buying a phone on which you will do a good degree of photography, it won’t hurt to also look at Samsung Galaxy S21 phones and, if OS switch is possible, then iPhone 12 Pro.
What the OnePlus 9 Pro 5G proves is that OnePlus is no longer a small company. Unlike past collaborations between camera brands and smartphone makers, the deal with Hasselblad does make a difference to the feel of the phone. If not anything, the perception of OnePlus being a serious smartphone player has been cemented with the 9 Pro.
More than 50 years ago, Hasselblad landed on the moon with some legendary astronauts. This time, the company is flying high with OnePlus. The journey has started. Undoubtedly this is the best OnePlus phone ever with a lot more than a touch of class. And the software is as snappy as ever.
With wireless charging, you can fuel up OnePlus 9 Pro 5G in just 40 minutes. The Telegraph
Device: OnePlus 9 Pro 5G (8GB+128GB is priced at Rs 64,999 and 12GB+256GB is priced at Rs 69,999)
High notes
⚫ Seriously good improvements in the camera department
⚫ Offers the lowest degree of distortion around edges in photographs taken on any smartphone
⚫ Excellent charging capabilities and speed, besides good battery life
⚫ Software runs smoothly
Muffled notes
⚫ Video department can be improved
⚫ Some colour shift is visible while moving from main to ultra-wide camera
⚫ The rear panel is slightly slippery
